Printers are used in a wide variety of applications to produce output on media. The media typically is a suitable sheet or roll material, such as paper, card stock, cloth or other fabric, transparencies, mylar, and the like. The printer produces the output by controllably emitting a colorant at desired positions or locations on the media.
The colorant is a consumable: an item that is used up or worn out after a period of time, or after an amount of use, in the output producing process. As such, the consumable is typically replaced or replenished over the lifetime of the printer, in most cases many times. A colorant such as ink or toner may be supplied in a replaceable item, such as an ink container or a toner cartridge. In some cases, the container or cartridge may include other items ancillary to the colorant, such as a printhead or a photosensitive drum, which get replaced along with a supply of colorant.
Replacement or replenishment of consumables is an expense for the owner of the printer. Naturally, a printer owner typically desires to minimize these recurring expenses.